Method for making framing construction with pre-mortised plates

ABSTRACT

A method of framing construction includes pre-mortising a group of elongated beams to be used as plate material by forming notches across the width of each of the beams at longitudinally spaced apart locations along the length of each beam. A framed wall panel is formed by arranging the pre-mortised beams to provide a bottom plate of the wall panel, and an upper plate of the wall panel spaced from and extending generally parallel to the bottom plate, with the notches of the upper plate being aligned longitudinally with the notches of the bottom plate. The ends of a series of studs are placed in the aligned notches, and the ends of the studs are fastened to the notched portions of the plates to form a rigid framed wall panel in which the studs extend vertically between the bottom plate and upper plate when the panel is fastened in an upright position to provide the wall framing for the building.

l atent [191 [4 1 Dec. 3, 1974 [76] Inventor: Charles E. Wirch, 1366 E. Palm,

Altadena, Calif. 91001 [22] Filed: July 5, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 376,819

Related US. Application Data [62] Division of Ser. No. 199,959, Nov. 18, l97l, Pat. No.

[52] U.S. Cl 29/428, 29/407, 52/747, 144/309 R, 144/309 L [51] Int. Cl B23p 19/00 [58] Field of Search 29/428, 462, 407, 200 R,

29/200 P; 52/747; 8.3/86, 90, 91, 92; l44/309L, 136 R, 137, 133 R, 309 R Primary Examiner C. W. Lanham Assistant Examiner-Victor A. DiPalma Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Christie, Parker & Hale [57] ABSTRACT A method of framing construction includes premortising a group of elongated beams to be used as plate material by forming notches across the width of each of the beams at longitudinally spaced apart loca tions along the length of each beam. A framed wall panel is formed by arranging the pre-mortised beams to provide a bottom plate of the wall panel, and an upper plate of the wall panel spaced from and extend ing generally parallel to the bottom plate, with the notches of the upper plate being aligned longitudinally with the notches of the bottom plate. The ends of a series of studs are placed in the aligned notches, and the ends of the studs are fastened to the notched portions of the plates to form a rigid framed wall panel in which the studs extend vertically between the bottom plate and upper plate when the panel is fastened in an upright position to provide the wall framing for the building.

12 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures PAH-INTEL nu: slam SHEET 1 OF 5 PATENTELUEB 3W 3.851372 SHEET 5 OF 5 METHOD FOR MAKING FRAMING CONSTRUCTION WITH PRE-MORTISED PLATES This is a division of application Ser. No. 199,959, filed Nov. 18, 1971, now US. Pat. No. 3,744,540.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a method for reducing the cost and time required to construct building wall frames, and more particularly. to the manufacture of prefabricated building wall frames using pre-mortised plates. i

Framed wall structures for buildings and the like are commonlyconstructed from spaced vertically extending studs disposed between a lower plate and an upper plate. In the prior art method of wall frame construction, a workman positions the studs by accurately measuring to insure that each stud is fixed in a Substantially vertical plane when the wall' frame is positioned in its upright position. The upper end of each stud is nailed through the upper plate with two nails, and the lower end of each stud is nailed through the lower plate in the same manner, prior to raising the wall section into place. In those instances where the lower plate, or a mud-sill, is already secured to a concrete slab or foundation, the wall section is raised prior to nailing through the lower plate or mud-sill. Each stud is then toe-nailed with four nails to the already-secured lower plate or mud-sill. I

As is well known in the art, toe-nailing involves the use of at least two nails diagonally driven into each side of the stud and into the adjacent plate to prevent the stud from twisting on its axis. The toe-nailing step, however, often causes the stud to move slightly from its desired position determined during the measuring step.

The prior art method of building construction also commonly uses a top plate above the upper plate in framed wall structures, the top plate holding spaced apart, horizontally extending ceiling joists which extend between opposing wall frames in the building under construction. The position of each ceiling joist is determined by accurately measuring to insure that the joists are parallel and square withthe wall frames holding them. The ceiling joists are then toe-nailed to their corresponding top plates.

The floor joists of conventional sub-floor construction also are positioned by accurately measuring to insure that the floor joists are parallel and square with the mud-sills on which they rest.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention is based on the recognition that a substantial waste of time and money is caused by the prior art method of individually measuring to position each stud, ceiling joist, and floor joist in the framing of a building. The toe-nailing procedure used in the prior art also is time consuming and costly, particularly-when one considers the large number of studs and joists required to construct the framing for a typical building.

notches previously formed in a pair of beams positioned to serve as lower and upper plates of the wall frame. The studs are automatically aligned in a vertical plane because the notches in each beam are uniformly .positioned with respect to the notches in all other beams. Thereafter, the studs aresecured to the plates to form a rigid wall frame.

Ceiling joists also are fitted into notches previously formed in a pair of beams positioned to serve as top plates in opposing wall frames. Floor joists are fitted into notches cut in a pair of beams mounted to serve as mud-sills in the sub-floor construction.

Thus, the pre-notched beams eliminate the time consuming procedure of measuring to ascertain the exact position for each stud and joist. The pre-formed notches prevent'studs and joists from twisting on their axes, and they eliminate the time consuming and costly step of toe-nailing the end of each stud and joist to their corresponding plates, or mud-sills.

In a preferred form of the invention, the beams are pre-notched by positioning a series of side-by-side elongated beams adjacent to a series of longitudinally spacedapart mortising blades, such that the length of the beams extends substantially parallel to the axes of rotation of the mortising blades. The beams are continuously moved into contact with the mortising blades to.

fixed position in the plane of the work support bed,

moved into contact with the mortising blades for notching, and thereafter automatically accumulated and baled-for delivery to the construction site.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS These and other aspects of the invention will be more fully understood by referring to the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. I is a fragmentary elevation view of a multimortising machine having a stack of uncut beams on an elevator bed shown in its lowered position;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary elevation-view of the machine shown in FIG. I- in which the elevator bed is in its uppermost position;

' FIG. 3 is a fragmentary plan elevation view taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary elevation view taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 2 showing the elevator bed on one side of the machine and an accumulator bed on the other side of the machine;

FIG. 5 is a plan elevation view taken on line 5-5 of FIG. showing the drive mechanism for lifting an lowering the elevator and accumulator beds;

FIG. 6 is a schematic electrical diagram showing the preferred electrical system for controlling the operation of the mortising machine;

FIG. 7 is a framentary elevation view showing the use of the pre-mortised beams as plate material in a typical wall frame; and

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary elevation view showing the use of, the pre-mortised beams as mud-sills in a typical sub-floor construction.

FIGS. 1 through 6 show a multi-mortising machine for making multiple cuts or notches through beams 130, preferably 2-inch by 4-inch wood beams used as plates, joists, and mud-sills in conventional housing construction. The detailed description of the structure and use of the multi-mortising machine 10 is disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 3,744,540, which issued on the parent of the present divisional application.

Briefly, the multi-mortising machine 10 includes a series of spaced apart rotary mortising blades 58 having working edges spaced above a stationary work support bed 53. A stack of side-by-side uncut beams is mounted on a vertically movable elevator bed 23 which progressively raises each row of beams in the stack above the plane of the work support bed 53. The beams are fed across the bed into contact with the mortising blades to notch the beams. Thereafter, the notched beams are fed to a vertically movable accumulator bed 25, while the next row of beams is raised above the plane of the work support bed in preparation for the next mortising cycle. The machine continues to automatically feed uncut beams to the work support bed, mortising them, and accumulate the mortised beams until all beams in the stack are mortised.

The use of the mortised beams produced by mortising machine 10 is best understood by referring to FIGS. 7 and 8. FIG. 7 shows a typical framed wall structure 184 mounted on a foundation 186. The wall frame includes a pre-mortised lower plate 188 and a premortised upper plate 190. Vertically extending and horizontally spaced apart studs 192 are fitted into opposing pairs of notches mortised in the bottom and upper plates. Each stud 192 is held rigidly in place in its respective notches by nails shown schematically at 194. The nails aredriven longitudinally through each plate and intothe ends of the studs. Cripples 196 above and below a window frame 198 also are fitted into the pre-mortised lower and upper plates.

Wall frame 184 also includes a pre-mortised top plate 200 secured above plate 190 such that the notches cut in the top plate open upwardly to receive longitudinally spaced apart ceiling joists 202.

Further use of the pre-mortised beams is illustrated in FIG. 8 which shows a pre-mortised mud-sill 204 secured to the top of a foundation slab 206 by foundation bolts 208. The upwardly opening notches in mud-sill 204 receives laterally spaced apart floor joists 210 which support a sub-floor 212 on which wall frame 184 is mounted.

Thus, the pre-mortised beams provide substantial savings of time and money in conventional housing construction. The amount of toe-nailing required to secure studs, cripples, ceiling joists, and floor joists to plates and mud sills is substantially reduced by the premortised beams. More-importantly, however, the time consuming conventional procedure of measuring to determine the proper positions for studs, cripples, and joists is eliminated. The notches in all pre-mortised beams are accurately aligned so that the workman does not have to take the time to measure to determine the accurate position and alignment of studs, cripples and joists. Moreover, the mortising machine disclosed requires merely seven minutes to mortise one loading (28 2 inches X 4 inches beams) or 540 lineal feet of beams by a single workman when bed lift motor 104 is driven at 3 rpm.

I claim:

1. A method of constructing the framing of a building comprising pre-mortising a group of elongated beams by forming notches across the width of each of the beams at longitudinally spaced apart locations along the length of each beam,

forming a framed wall panel by arranging the premortised beams to provide a bottom plate of the wallpanel and an upper plate of a panel spaced from and extending generally parallel to the bottom plate with the notches of the upper plate being aligned longitudinally with the notches of the bottom plate, and placing the ends of a series of spaced apart and parallel elongated studs in the aligned notches, and

fastening the ends of the studs to the notched portions of the plates to form a rigid framed wall panel in which the studs extend vertically between the bottom plate and upper plate when the wall panel is mounted in an upright position for' providing the wall framing for the building.

2. The method according to claim 1 including premortising the notches at equidistantly spaced apart locations along the length of each beam.

3. The method according to claim 2 in which the premortising step includes forming continuous notches across the entire width of each beam.

4. The method according to claim 1 in which the premortising step includes forming continuous notches across the entire width of each beam.

5. The method according to claim 1 including forming the notches such that each notch provides a horizontal surface extending generally parallel to the length of each plate for abutting the end of each stud, and a pair of generally parallel and spaced apart vertical wall surfaces for abutting the opposite vertical edge surface of each stud fitted into the notch.

6. The method according to claim 1 including securing a pre-mortised beam above the upper plate with the notches in said beam facing away from the upper plate so as to form a top plate, and placing the bottoms of a series of spaced apart ceiling joists in the notches previously formed in the top plate.

7. The method according to claim 1 including securing a pre-mortised beam above a foundation footing with the notches in the beam facing upward away from the foundation footing so as to form a mud-sill, placing the bottoms of a series of spaced apart floor joists in the notches previously formed in the mud-sill and fastening the framed wall panel in an upright position above the floor joists.

8. The method according to claim 7 including securing a pre-mortised beam above the upper plate with the notches in said beam facing away from the upper plate so as to form a top plate, and placing the bottoms of a series of spaced apart ceiling joists in the notches previously formed in the top plate.

9. The method according to claim 1 including the step of pre-mortising the group of beams by rotating a plurality of longitudinally spaced apart mortising blades, positioning a group of said beams adjacent to the rotating mortising blades such that the beams extend lengthwise substantially parallel to the axis of rotation of the mortising blades, and continuously moving the beams into contact with the mortising blades to contact the rotary mortising blades, and alternately feeding a group of side-by-side beams to a predetermined position in the plane of the work support bed and moving the beams from the predetermined position into contact with the rotary mortising blades.

12. The method according to claim 11 including automatically moving each group of mortised beams away from the mortising blades. 

1. A method of constructing the framing of a building comprising pre-mortising a group of elongated beams by forming notches across the width of each of the beams at longitudinally spaced apart locations along the length of each beam, forming a framed wall panel by arranging the pre-mortised beams to provide a bottom plate of the wall panel and an upper plate of a panel spaced from and extending generally parallel to the bottom plate with the notches of the upper plate being aligned longitudinally with the notches of the bottom plate, and placing the enDs of a series of spaced apart and parallel elongated studs in the aligned notches, and fastening the ends of the studs to the notched portions of the plates to form a rigid framed wall panel in which the studs extend vertically between the bottom plate and upper plate when the wall panel is mounted in an upright position for providing the wall framing for the building.
 2. The method according to claim 1 including pre-mortising the notches at equidistantly spaced apart locations along the length of each beam.
 3. The method according to claim 2 in which the pre-mortising step includes forming continuous notches across the entire width of each beam.
 4. The method according to claim 1 in which the pre-mortising step includes forming continuous notches across the entire width of each beam.
 5. The method according to claim 1 including forming the notches such that each notch provides a horizontal surface extending generally parallel to the length of each plate for abutting the end of each stud, and a pair of generally parallel and spaced apart vertical wall surfaces for abutting the opposite vertical edge surface of each stud fitted into the notch.
 6. The method according to claim 1 including securing a pre-mortised beam above the upper plate with the notches in said beam facing away from the upper plate so as to form a top plate, and placing the bottoms of a series of spaced apart ceiling joists in the notches previously formed in the top plate.
 7. The method according to claim 1 including securing a pre-mortised beam above a foundation footing with the notches in the beam facing upward away from the foundation footing so as to form a mud-sill, placing the bottoms of a series of spaced apart floor joists in the notches previously formed in the mud-sill and fastening the framed wall panel in an upright position above the floor joists.
 8. The method according to claim 7 including securing a pre-mortised beam above the upper plate with the notches in said beam facing away from the upper plate so as to form a top plate, and placing the bottoms of a series of spaced apart ceiling joists in the notches previously formed in the top plate.
 9. The method according to claim 1 including the step of pre-mortising the group of beams by rotating a plurality of longitudinally spaced apart mortising blades, positioning a group of said beams adjacent to the rotating mortising blades such that the beams extend lengthwise substantially parallel to the axis of rotation of the mortising blades, and continuously moving the beams into contact with the mortising blades to form a series of longitudinally spaced apart notches extending across the width of each beam.
 10. The method according to claim 9 including feeding the beams in a side-by-side relation across a work support bed, and positioning the rotary mortising blades so the working edges of the blades are at a fixed distance above the work support bed surface.
 11. The method according to claim 9 including moving the beams across a work support bed as they contact the rotary mortising blades, and alternately feeding a group of side-by-side beams to a predetermined position in the plane of the work support bed and moving the beams from the predetermined position into contact with the rotary mortising blades.
 12. The method according to claim 11 including automatically moving each group of mortised beams away from the mortising blades. 